"Game" creator pitching makeover to save show

Executive producer Mara Brock Akil (L) and actress Wendy Raquel Robinson, star of The CW network's comedy series "The Game" take part in a panel discussion at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, California, July 17, 2006. REUTERS/Fred Prouser

With the CW expected to complete its exit from the half-hour comedy genre at the end of this season, the creator/executive producer of one of the network’s two remaining comedies, “The Game,” is mulling turning it into an hourlong series. Mara Brock Akil is expected to pitch the idea to the CW brass this week.

A show switching genres is extremely rare. (In 1999, Fox launched the short-lived “Ally,” a half-hour version of David E. Kelley’s hit hourlong dramedy “Ally McBeal.”) However, for “The Game,” such a transformation would actually make sense creatively. “The Game” already plays like a half-hour comedy-drama, mixing the genres more than a traditional sitcom does.

Still, keeping the three-year-old “Game” on for another season is considered a long shot. Once a promising newcomer airing behind “Girlfriends,” the series that spun it off, “The Game” and “Everybody Hates Chris” have been relegated to the low-rated Friday night, where “Game” has averaged 1.9 million viewers.

Additionally, an hourlong “Game” wouldn’t necessarily mesh well with CW’s other dramas, which are skewing younger and far less urban, and a format switch after three seasons also would complicate a potential syndication run of the show.